


Christmas Lights

by Frangipanidownunder



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21809938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frangipanidownunder/pseuds/Frangipanidownunder
Summary: Decorating the tree.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Kudos: 19





	Christmas Lights

The invitation was a surprise. Many recent Thanksgivings had been spent apart – Mulder at the house, poking around places on the internet she didn’t want to know about, hey Scully, did you know that Robert de Niro went undercover as an Uzbek homeopath when he attempted to assassinate Malala? Her, at her mother’s house under the guise of a traditional family dinner, that usually descended into the usual Charlie-bashing-fest after Bill jr took one too many ports. Or alone in her sterile apartment.

Now, Bill jr was stepping up. Extending an invitation to spend the afternoon at his small gathering.

Mulder plucked the card from her hand. “Plus one?”

She booped his shoulder. “That would be you.”

Holding the invitation outwards, he yelled, “I’m Fox Freaking Mulder, you punk-ass, arrogant older brother of my…my…”

“Partner?” Scully said, whipping the card back from him.

“That will only restrict his understanding of our relationship to us working together.”

“BFF?”

“Best fucking friends?” Mulder bit into a corner of toast, leaving crumbs in his stubble which she’d have to kiss away later.

“For a man who spends so much time on the internet, your understanding of acronyms and text-speak is sorely lacking, Mulder. Best friends forever. How about companion? Sweetheart?” He shook his head vigorously at each of her suggestions, closing the space between them. “Booty call? Netflix and chill?” She tiptoed and swiped her tongue over his jawline, collecting peanut-butter flavoured morsels. “Lovers?” Her voice dipped and his hand graced the curve of her hip.

“I like the sound of that.”

“We have to tell him.”

He did a barf face. “Ew! That we’re lovers?”

She kissed him again and walked to the stairs. “You know what I mean. Now, come with me. I’ve got thanks to give.” 

Bill pulled open the door and greeted them with that blank-eyed smile he’d perfected. Tara took their offerings to the kitchen. Shaking Mulder’s hand seemed like an effort and he air-kissed Scully’s cheeks, quick to show them through to the lounge. The other guests stood holding their tongues and their pre-dinner drinks.

“Let me introduce my sister, Dana. And her…” Bill cast a look over at Mulder, pushing his lips out and mentally sorting his own thesaurus of suitable terms, “friend, Fox. Although, he prefers Mulder,” he added with a chuckle, “which is probably just as well.”

She fixed him with a steely glare, one that said, “We’re not just friends and you fucking know it.”

He named all the other guests, relations of Tara and some work colleagues but by the time he’d finished, Scully had all but forgotten them. He nodded to Tara who was carrying sparkling wine flutes. Scully declined asking for water. Mulder watched Bill pouring himself a large whisky on ice.

“Go ask for one,” Scully said, sipping her wine.

Mulder stepped forward but Bill lifted his hand in greeting to Frank or Fred or whoever he was, wearing the too-short pants and an arrogant smile.

Mulder looked back at her. “Guess I’ll fix it myself.”

So, that was how it was going to be.

There was a spot at the back of Bill’s yard, tranquil, shaded by an oak that had stood sentry for decades. She touched the bark, feeling its roughness under her fingers, its quiet wisdom affording her some calm before the storm. The sky was an incongruous summer blue, cloudless. It was idyllic, she thought. They should give thanks. For everything. They had survived. That was a miracle in and of itself. And now this. She touched her stomach as Mulder tilted his face to the heavens, gathering whatever strength he might need.

Bill strode towards them, hands marching by his sides, face set to neutral. In the late afternoon light, she saw how his hair was greying and how much he’d aged in recent times. Liver spots covered the back of his hands and his middle was stout, not quite like their father’s but getting there.

Mulder leant down to her and whispered. “I think I forgot how to breathe.”

“He’s not that scary,” she said, jabbing him in the ribs.

“He’s seen military service. He votes Republican. He probably uses a cut-throat razor blindfold. He’s scary.”

“You’ve faced down a bile-covered liver-eating mutant.”

He smirked. “I suddenly have a soft spot for old Eugene Victor Tooms.”

“Mulder!” She squashed her giggling face into his shoulder.

Bill clicked his heels together as he stood before them. “I’m not sure why we couldn’t just stay in the dining room. Tara’s serving dessert.”

“We wanted a private moment,” Scully started and felt Mulder move his hand to the small of her back. A welcome boost.

“We’re having a baby,” she said. The way it sounded was still all bent and out-of-step. The words tasted foreign on her tongue, but the rippling in her belly, the soft, proud breath that Mulder let out, the way the oak’s canopy shimmied and let the light fall through, those things told her it was going to be okay, whatever reaction Bill had.

Bill quirked his head, lowered his eyebrows. He went to speak, but she could see how he was stumped, uncertain how to proceed. The military prepared a man for the order of conflict. Not for the chaos of life.

Mulder stepped away from her and offered his hand to Bill. This time, her brother clutched it, covered it with his other hand. “It’s a shock for us all, but it’s the truth.”

“The truth, huh? After all these years.” There was a slightly bitter note to Bill’s words, but he shook Mulder’s hand anyway, pumped it, in fact, a glimmer of a smile tugging at his lips. “I didn’t even know you two were…”

“Neither did we,” Mulder said and looked back at her.

She smiled as the sunlight dappled the grass and Bill laughed, loud and free.


End file.
